Irene Braam

The Reason Not to Boycott Israeli Films Cinema is a vital source of artistic dissent in a country at war.

Boycotting Israeli films is an ill-conceived means of achieving political change, Gershom Gorenberg argues. It targets “a vital source of artistic dissent rather than policy makers”:

J.D. Vance’s foreign policy: When restraint meets culture war Vance is shaping up to be America’s most influential vice president since Dick Cheney—but that’s where the similarities between them end…

The 2028 US election remains a long way off. But it is not too early for Europeans to start preparing for the possibility of a J.D. Vance presidency, writes Majda Ruge
https://bit.ly/47TZxsQ

Cinédialoog: Lithium Rising From the moment the smartphone alarm wakes us up in the morning, we begin our day relying on the lithium battery. From the mundane to lifesaving, lithium powered devices get us through the day. Who co...

Access to minerals that power a battery has emerged as a vital geopolitical, economic & social concern. So where does the lithium, the nickel, and the cobalt come from? Who controls the supply? Thursday Oct 3 20.00 hrs Docu and Talk @debalie.bsky.social.
debalie.nl/cinema/cined...

Jimmy Kimmel to Return to ABC on Tuesday After Show’s Controversial Suspension The Walt Disney Company in a new statement says the move was made "to avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country."

Too many subscription cancellations ?https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/jimmy-kimmel-live-return-abc-1236374942/

Whisper it softly - as it really doesn't fit the narrative - but the AfD has markedly underperformed in a series of recent mayoral elections in Germany's eastern states. Often where the rival candidate was a dynamic local figure commanding broad "popular front" support.

The U.S. Is Quietly Pausing Some Arms Sales to Europe As part of the “America First” agenda, the Department of Defense is stockpiling weapons.

www.theatlantic.com/national-sec...

The Atlantic Announces Free Digital Subscriptions for All U.S. Public High Schools None

Great initiative, will other outlets follow? www.theatlantic.com/press-releas...

Flanders Festival Ghent Cancels Munich Philharmonic's Concert Due to Lahav Shani's Position with the Israel Philharmonic - OperaWire The Flanders Festival Ghent has decided to cancel the concert by the Munich Philharmonic on Sept. 18, 2025 due to chief conductor, Lahav Shani being the Israel Philharmonic's music director.

What is the next step for Belgium? Banning the average Israeli citizen? operawire.com/flanders-fes...

Space: the final frontier of human ambition. Can global powers collaborate or will old rivalries follow us beyond Earth? Don't miss screening of Astropolitics in Brussels
📅 Oct 6 |18:30 | @flageystudios.bsky.social, Studio 5
Free event, registration required 👉 www.flagey.be/en/activity/...

L’écrasante responsabilité du Hamas dans la catastrophe palestinienne CHRONIQUE. Le mouvement islamiste, au lieu d’accorder la priorité à l’intégrité du peuple palestinien, n’a cessé de fournir à Israël des prétextes pour dévaster la bande de Gaza, explique l’historien ...

www.lemonde.fr/un-si-proche...

Surprise, surprise

A Troubled Man, His Chatbot and a Murder-Suicide in Old Greenwich “Erik, you’re not crazy.” ChatGPT fueled a 56-year-old tech industry veteran’s paranoia, encouraging his suspicions that his mother was plotting against him.

What guardrails are we willing to put in place ?https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/chatgpt-ai-stein-erik-soelberg-murder-suicide-6b67dbfb

And we knew that risk was there a long time ago

EU Prepares 19th Sanctions Package Against Russia’s War Economy When EU foreign ministers meet at the end of August in Denmark, the current Council Presidency holder, the agenda is expected to include increasing pressure on Russia. President Vladimir Putin will on...

As the EU prepares the next Russia sanctions package, @miriamkosmehl.bsky.social explains what could be an effective focus: oil trade and the shadow fleet; banks, dual-use goods and financial flows; and tackling circumvention through third countries.

Read more here➡️ bst-europe.eu/economy-secu...

Swiss engineering 🇨🇭altitude 2360 meters

1/3 of the population

$50,000 Signing Bonus, No Age Caps: The Blitz to Hire ICE Officers Uncle Sam is using social media and financial incentives to entice new recruits.

$50,000 signing bonus & $60,000 student loan forgiveness will surely make this attractive to many www.wsj.com/us-news/ice-...

Breaking News.
(Die erste von vermutlich hunderten…).

The Limits of Recognition The move by several states to recognize Palestine will not end conflict in the Middle East—or at home.

Foreign leaders are once again recognizing Palestinian statehood. The motive “is not to bring peace to the Middle East. They hope instead to bring peace to their own streets,” David Frum argues—but they are unlikely to succeed.

Opinion | AI Robs My Students of the Ability to Think They report that they find their ability to write, speak and conduct basic inquiry is slipping away.

No surprise www.wsj.com/opinion/ai-r...

Into forecasting? Check out rangeforecasting.org and join the over 1700 forecasters on the platform 👇

The U.S. Marches Toward State Capitalism With American Characteristics President Trump is imitating the Chinese Communist Party by extending political control ever deeper into the economy.

Interesting read www.wsj.com/economy/the-...

Why a NASA satellite that scientists and farmers rely on may be destroyed on purpose The Trump administration has asked NASA staffers to draw up plans to end at least two satellite missions that measure carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, according to current and former NASA employees.

www.npr.org/2025/08/04/n...

‘I Feel Like I’m Going Crazy’: ChatGPT Fuels Delusional Spirals An online trove of archived conversations shows the artificial-intelligence model sending users down a rabbit hole of theories about physics, aliens and the apocalypse.

Frightening :https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/i-feel-like-im-going-crazy-chatgpt-fuels-delusional-spirals-ae5a51fc

How Tariffs Could Derail the United States’ $3 Trillion AI Buildout The CSIS Economics Program cautions that U.S. tariffs on inputs to data centers, including a recent proposal to put a 100 percent tariff on semiconductors, threaten to undermine U.S. AI leadership and...

NEW: @philuck.bsky.social cautions that U.S. tariffs on inputs to data centers, including a recent proposal to put a 100 percent tariff on semiconductors, threaten to undermine U.S. AI leadership and the high-value services it enables.

Learn more: www.csis.org/analysis/how...

Exclusive: Rubio orders US diplomats to launch lobbying blitz against Europe's tech law President Donald Trump's administration has instructed U.S. diplomats in Europe to launch a lobbying campaign to build an opposition to the European Union's Digital Services Act, which Washington says stifles free speech and imposes costs on U.S. tech companies, an internal diplomatic cable seen by Reuters showed.

There are nearly 16,000 books bans affecting more than 4,000 titles in the US, so this 👇 is not about free speech let’s call a dog a dog www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

Opinion | Trump’s Trade Representative: Why We Remade the Global Order Tariffs were an urgent necessity. They’re already working.

Now the European consumer just needs to be convinced to buy American cars, beef, chicken and more… probably easier said than done www.nytimes.com/2025/08/07/o...

National gerrymandering competition

3 sessions, 3 exciting topics, wonderful speakers! We keep learning every day!

Israel’s actions in Gaza look ‘very much like’ genocide, says top EU official European Commission Executive Vice President Teresa Ribera says Palestinians “being targeted, killed and condemned to starve to death.”

It takes two to make peace. It keeps surprising me how little pressure EU politicians put on Hamas, no mention at all in this interview www.politico.eu/article/isra...